Every since I was a child, it's been hard to slow down. I gravitate towards doing things fast;
multi-tasking; and project planning. Gradually, I became aware of the
benefits of slowing down; I mean really slowing down. My job title is
medical psychologist. My work involves helping people access innate
healing mechanisms. And the strongest mental medicine I've found has turned out to be something I call parapower.

Parapower stands for the amazing power that accompanies the deliberate activation of the parasympathetic nervous system. To understand it, I'll provide you with the basics of the human nervous system. Then, I'm going to suggest something fairly radical; that the only way to become more spiritual is through activation of this system.

Many of you are familiar with aspects of the human nervous system. There's the central nervous system (CNS); named because it lies in the center of our bodies and because it's our central command station. The CNS consists of the brain and the spinal column.

And then there's the peripheral nervous system(PNS) which is on the periphery of the central! The PNS is divided into the autonomic nervous system and the somatic nervous system.

The automatic or autonomic nervous system was named by Dr. John Langley in the early 1900s. He thought the autonomic nervous system acted automatically and was self-governing; functioning independently of the central nervous system.

Today, scientists know that the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system do a wonderous dance together. When central command picks up information about a potential threat to our wellbeing, it sends a signal down the spinal column which then relays the information to a chain of cells running along side the column called the sympathetic ganglionic chain.

The sympathetic system then becomes activated by directing your heart to beat faster; your lungs to gather more oxygen; and your b to provide enerdy to release nutrients for energy.

This diagram shows the basic structure of this incredible system:

Our sysmpathetic systems are very well trained! For
an extended period of time; human beings faced such a hostile,
competitive environment. We were hunter-gathers. The average life
span of a human throughout much of history was about thirty-five
years. Life was often cut short by disease, by combat, and by some
other animals who were also struggling to survive.

What
type of nervous system helped us survive? Rapid in its response,
energizing and protective, the sympathetic nervous system has served us
well. In fact, all of us who are alive today owe our
existence to this system. You had a great, great, great, (keep going)
descendent who ran faster or fought harder or stayed alert longer than
most. Survival of the fittest dominated in the natural selection of
our ancestors.

As
a sympathetically enhanced animal, we guard our juggler vain with
uplifted shoulders. We elongate our spine to give us a visual
advantage in the meadow or a psychological advantage through body
language (shoulder padding is still favored as a body language
enhancer). We tighten muscles along our torso to protect vital organs;
creating a kind of coat of mail. We shut down all non-essential
processes to maximize the energy available for survival. To prepare
for fight, hand are protected from bleeding excessively by vascular
constriction (the well know "cold hands" of fear). To prepare for
flight, the feet have blood withdrawn (remember this all got programmed
when there was no such thing as paved roads or PF flyers). Repair
system, digestive systems, reproductive systems are all suppressed. We
produce substances like adrenaline and blood sugar to give us energy
and stamina.